The Triathlon competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, are scheduled to be held in Hyde Park. The women's is scheduled for Saturday 4 August and the men's for Tuesday 7 August. A total of 110 athletes, 55 men and 55 women, are expected to take part.[1] Triathlon made its debut at the Summer Olympics during the 2000 Games in Sydney; the six gold medallists to date have come from six different nations.[1]

Contents

Format and venue

The Olympic triathlon contains three components; a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) swim, 40 km (25 mi) cycle, and a 10 km (6.2 mi) run.[2] The competitions take the form of a single event between all competitors with no heats.[1]

Both the men's and women's events will take place in Hyde Park, one of the eight Royal Parks of London.[1][3] The swim will take place in the Serpentine which will have a pontoon constructed to act as the start.[4] The cycle will involve athletes leaving the park via Queen Mother's Gate, traveling through Wellington Arch, down Constitution Hill and on to Birdcage Walk in front of Buckingham Palace before returning to the park to complete the event with a four lap run around the Serpentine.[4]

A temporary 3000-capacity seating area will be constructed in the park in June 2012 and a three-metre high temporary fence will surround the events.[4] It will be the first games where triathletes will have to serve penalties in a box, having previous just had the time added on at the end of the race which have to be taken at some point on the run section.[5]

Qualification

The qualification period runs from 1 June 2010 to 31 May 2012; triathletes for each gender will qualify at the end of this period. Points are awarded based on finishes in a range of international events and athletes can use their best 14 results for their Olympic qualification – six from the first year and eight from the second.[6][7]

Qualification events have four different levels with points awarded on a sliding scale. Level one events carry 1000 points for the winner and are the World Championship grand finals in 2010 and 2011 as well as the Olympic qualification event in 2011. There are 800 points available to the winner of the ten World Championship series events held over the qualifying period, 500 points for the level three World Cups and 400 points for the level four Continental Championships. In all races athletes must finish in the top 50 and within 5% of the winner's time, for men's races, and 8% for women's races.[6]

Thirty-nine athletes will qualify via the ranking, next to the 5 continental champions and the top 3 in the International Qualifying Event, held in London on 6–7 August 2011. In the end, a further 5 places will be distributed to countries without any quota.[8]

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1). All event times are subject to change.[9]